Back in the early and mid-2000s, forwards — and particularly power forwards — being sharpshooters wasn’t common.
Now, players like Kevin Love and Serge Ibaka stretching out defenses with their shooting is the norm. But for every basketball evolution, there’s always at least a few predecessors.
Rashard Lewis, who played his first nine NBA seasons with the Seattle SuperSonics, was one of those forebears. Lewis played 16 NBA seasons, and he was a two-time All-Star. One of his appearances coincided with what was one of the best seasons of his career.
It was the 2004-05 season, his seventh with Seattle. Lewis scored 20.5 points per game, the second-highest average of his career. He also shot 40.0% from the 3-point line. That percentage is the third-highest average of his career.
During the 2006-07 campaign, his last with the Sonics, Lewis had his best season scoring-wise. He averaged a career-high 22.4 points per game and shot 46.1% from the field.
Rashard Lewis used to get buckets. The prototypical stretch 4 🔥 #rashardlewis #supersonics #bringbackthesonics pic.twitter.com/nReJusTQgp
— The Stop and Pop (@thestopandpop) April 11, 2020
Lewis was one of the league’s top shooters for most of his career. According to Basketball Reference, he had eight seasons where he ranked in the top 20 for made threes. He was first in the NBA for the category during the 2008-09 season, with 220 makes.
With increased emphasis on shooting from the perimeter, Lewis was ahead of his time, much like his peers such as future Hall of Famers in Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Bosh.
He helped provide a preview of what the future would like during his stint with the Orlando Magic. During the late 2000s, the Magic were one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the league, and Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu were two of the franchise’s top shooters.
📆 This Date in Magic History by @MountainDew: July 11, 2007 🏀 The Magic acquire Rashard Lewis from the Seattle SuperSonics pic.twitter.com/A9vtExGMGU
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) July 11, 2018
The Magic went to the NBA Finals in 2009, and during that regular season, Lewis was second in points per game behind Dwight Howard. He shot 39.7% from the 3-point line that season, and the Magic were seventh in 3-point percentage.
Lewis played for the Miami Heat the final two seasons of his career, and he won his lone championship with the franchise in 2013.
As a pioneering stretch forward, Lewis finished his career with 1,787 total threes; he shot at a 38.6% clip from deep.
He ranks second in SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder history for 3-point field goals (973), per Basketball Reference. According to NBA.com stats, he ranks 19th in league history for made threes.
Though Lewis didn’t finish his career dressed in individual accolades, his impact on the modern era is significant. With his 3-point shooting, Lewis was one of the original stretch forwards who could score and complement others.
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